"This South Euclid ladder truck was heading down Wrenford Road April 4 when it came to an unexpected, abrupt and uncontrolled stop. The U-bolts that hold the differential to the leaf springs snapped, causing the differential to roll out the back. Several tow trucks came to the scene. Those tow truck operators considered several options while trying to figure out how to hook up the truck and load the broken parts. It took about four hours to clear the road."

04-07-2011, 03:59 PM

FWDbuff

Fascinating. And I am not breaking Piece's balls, either. You have to wonder what caused this. And it would not surprise me to find out it was stress on the (single) rear from all the weight of a stick, water, pump, etc............

04-07-2011, 04:29 PM

donethat

Opps

Some assembly required!

04-07-2011, 05:27 PM

EastKyFF

As Austin Powers said, "Sorry! I bet that's expensive!"

Glad the crew is OK.

04-07-2011, 06:08 PM

HuntPA

You should also post this under the thread for a used platform. I bet it would be a lot cheaper than what they are looking at!!!

Aerial 321 is the fire department ladder truck first put in service January 14, 1991. This truck has a 75-ft ladder and a 1500 gallon per minute pumper manufactured by Pierce. Ladder 321 was sent out for refurbishment in October 2006 and is expected to provide years more service to the City.

Figured I'd show this from the Dept's site.

I am curious now, on who did the refurb, and what all they did. This shouldn't have happened in a less than 5yr refurb.

So they didn't hit anything to cause this? All four u-bolts just snapped as the truck was rolling down the road?? We must be missing something.

Last week one of our engines ran over a downed tree at speed.. the u-bolts survived, one of the leaf springs did not (among many components..)

04-08-2011, 09:52 AM

ChiefKN

Quote:

Originally Posted by FWDbuff

Fascinating. And I am not breaking Piece's balls, either. You have to wonder what caused this. And it would not surprise me to find out it was stress on the (single) rear from all the weight of a stick, water, pump, etc............

It is a single axle... unless I'm missing something.

We have a 100' quint on a single axle. When we refurbed, we took out the steel 300 gal tank to reduce the weight, as we had rear axle problems in the past.

04-10-2011, 10:43 PM

EngineCO38

Oh that does not look good, someone is gonna get they're pee pee slapped over this one! I must say I've never seen a rear axel and differential come out from underneath a rig so cleanly like this. And the only reported cause was failed U-bolts...I dunno about that, seems odd to me.

The same thing happened to a Pierce quint in Elyria, Ohio in 2007. I think the article said it was a reserve ladder and was 14 or 15 years old at the time. I would think Pierce would have looked into the problem back then just to avoid any lawsuits.

04-12-2011, 03:43 AM

ke6gwf

This thread finally got me to jump through the sign-up hoops!

I think what happened is that the welds that hold the saddle/spring mount to the axle failed.
If you look at the big picture courtesy of FIREMECH1 http://media.cleveland.com/sunmessen...8b7587d975.jpghttp://media.cleveland.com/sunmessen...8b7587d975.jpg, you can see a rusty brown strip on the far side of the housing. That is where the saddle is supposed to be welded on. The fact that it is missing tells me that the welds failed in any case, and since I know this to be almost common, and have seen it happen personally, I am guessing that it was the root cause of the accident.

The saddle would normally combine a place for the spring or other suspension arm (should be air-ride, but some of them still use a spring leaf with the air bag at one end) to sit, and then have wings on both sides that the u-bolts would go through and bolt under. In this case, the u-bolt should be going over the spring, and bolting to the saddle. The only connection then between the axle and the suspension is via those welds between the saddle and the housing.

I don't remember the model now, but I have heard there was one model of common heavy truck axle that had design issues so the housing flexed more than it should have, leading to the saddle welds cracking. I had that model axle under a truck of similar size and weight (and hard usage), and I caught it with just cracks, before the axle fell out!

Also, a common contributor was the saddles being replaced or moved when upgrading the suspension, and the wrong welding filler being used, causing metallurgical problems with the metal.

In any case, there should either be something welded on that side, or there should be signs of u-bolts wrapping around the axle. Since I see no signs of u-bolts around the axle, I diagnose it as the welds failing!

(a non-mechanic might look at it and see the u-bolts no longer connected to the axle, and since the u-bolts are probably the only thing they can identify by name, they would blame them. You know how it goes with Admin!)

(Source: 15 years of seeing big things break and then trying to fix them :)

Ben~

04-15-2011, 11:34 AM

93Cobra

I would not doubt that the winter salt and brine played a big part in eating away the components. The road crews here in Ohio use some nasty stuff on the roadways to keep them clear.

04-15-2011, 10:02 PM

rm1524

Quote:

Originally Posted by 93Cobra

I would not doubt that the winter salt and brine played a big part in eating away the components. The road crews here in Ohio use some nasty stuff on the roadways to keep them clear.

I would think that someone would have noticed that there was a rust problem on the axle assembly long before it reached the point of failure.

04-16-2011, 04:18 AM

FIREMECH1

Quote:

Originally Posted by 93Cobra

I would not doubt that the winter salt and brine played a big part in eating away the components. The road crews here in Ohio use some nasty stuff on the roadways to keep them clear.

You think you're the only one privy to such caustics to metal than Nebraska??? I don't think so.

We use the following on our streets and highways: Calcium Chloride, brine, salt, magnesium chloride, and potassium acetate.

Our yearly maintenance and inspections cover the rigs from top to bottom, front to back. Special attention is given to the chassis's because of what is put down on the streets. I can say we will (hopefully), never have an incident like this, due to the above.

Your credibility is slowly, but surely, going down hill.

FM1

04-16-2011, 10:32 AM

FWDbuff

Quote:

Originally Posted by FIREMECH1

You think you're the only one privy to such caustics to metal than Nebraska??? I don't think so.

We use the following on our streets and highways: Calcium Chloride, brine, salt, magnesium chloride, and potassium acetate.

Our yearly maintenance and inspections cover the rigs from top to bottom, front to back. Special attention is given to the chassis's because of what is put down on the streets. I can say we will (hopefully), never have an incident like this, due to the above.

Your credibility is slowly, but surely, going down hill.

FM1

Have you recommended to the Operations Chief that he make it an SOP for all driver/operators to thoroughly rinse off all vehicles upon return to quarters from a run through inclement weather? I don't mean they have to get down on their hands and knees and get under the chassis with a scrub brush, but it is an un-written SOP at our place for all D/O's to rinse off the unit with the hose and give the undercarriage a good blast (again they dont have to get down on their hands and knees.....) You would be surprised how much salt and crap is on the engineroom floor a few hours later when the water dries up.

04-16-2011, 12:26 PM

Reliance

Quote:

Originally Posted by 93Cobra

I would not doubt that the winter salt and brine played a big part in eating away the components. The road crews here in Ohio use some nasty stuff on the roadways to keep them clear.

You think you have it bad. Move to Nova Scotia, Canada, where we are surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean and the Bay of Fundy which both are salt water areas.

Plus the road salt on top of that and it is a nice mess on the trucks.

04-16-2011, 12:37 PM

FWDbuff

Quote:

Originally Posted by Reliance

You think you have it bad. Move to Nova Scotia, Canada, where we are surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean and the Bay of Fundy which both are salt water areas.

Plus the road salt on top of that and it is a nice mess on the trucks.

Anything that would hurt his precious Sufferins is worse than anything anyone else could ever have.

04-16-2011, 01:15 PM

FIREMECH1

Quote:

Originally Posted by FWDbuff

Have you recommended to the Operations Chief that he make it an SOP for all driver/operators to thoroughly rinse off all vehicles upon return to quarters from a run through inclement weather? I don't mean they have to get down on their hands and knees and get under the chassis with a scrub brush, but it is an un-written SOP at our place for all D/O's to rinse off the unit with the hose and give the undercarriage a good blast (again they dont have to get down on their hands and knees.....) You would be surprised how much salt and crap is on the engineroom floor a few hours later when the water dries up.

There's nothing written in black and white about rinsing down the rigs. But I'd say 75% of the drivers do rinse the rigs down when they return to the station, including the undercarriage. Most D/O's take good care of their equipment. I might need to remind them once in a great while to get the white stuff off the black stuff.